Modena. Maria Beatrice d’Este married James Stuart, represented by proxy from Peterborough. On October 5, she left Modena with her mother, Laura Martinozzi, and an entourage of about sixty people, and—passing through Voghera, Mont Cenis, Chambéry, and Lyon—arrived in Paris on November 2, where she was festively welcomed by Louis XIV. After overcoming a slight illness, Maria Beatrice d’Este, still with her mother at her side, left Paris on November 23 to embark for Calais. On December 1, she met her husband in Dover, where the Anglican Bishop of Oxford publicly read the marriage contract and the consummation of the marriage took place. Sailing up the Thames, the couple reached London and on December 6th took up residence at St. James’s Palace, the residence of the Duke of York. Staying with Maria Beatrice d’Este were the chaplain Ronchi, the Jesuits Antonio Maria Giudici and Gottardo Belluomo, a miniaturist, two painters, a page, two valets, two cooks, and five ladies, all from Modena. The English servants also joined them, around sixty people directly dependent on Maria Beatrice d’Este; Edward Coleman, destined to be executed for his involvement in papist plots, was chosen as secretary. Maria Beatrice d’Este adapted to the married state. She found consolation in the fact that the duke—of whose private conduct Maria Beatrice d’Este was to a certain extent aware, and over time, not without suffering, she came to terms with his systematic infidelity—had religious sentiments. On this point, the ducal couple remained steadfast, even though James Stuart’s religious intransigence would prove politically unsuccessful. Maria Beatrice carried five pregnancies to term within a few years, though they were marred by the early deaths of the children: Catherine Laura (21 January – 13 October 1675); Isabella (1676-81); Charles, Duke of Cambridge (7 November – 12 December 1677); her baby, born in early March 1681, died almost immediately, and Carla, born just three days after, in August 1682. Among the unfortunate births, the couple also experienced forced exile from London for a period of exile in Brussels, from 1679 to 1684, followed by an obligatory stay in Edinburgh. Charles II died a Catholic on 6 February 1685, and was succeeded by James II, with Mary Beatrice at his side as Queen of England.
